Zepla: Endwalker is the Worst FFXIV Expansion I have played

[FenyxRising]

Except Zepla actually addresses Yoshi-P's comments on "playing another game" in her video with a quote from Ion Hazzikostas of all people. MMOs are social games and you reach a critical mass of people logging in or not based on how many other people are playing. A new patch or expansion brings players in much like the current irregular tomestone event but likewise it goes the other way. There's been less content this expansion and less replayability in the content we have received. At some point enough people don't log in that the game feels dead or people that would log in quickly log off when they see all their friends offline.


Yoshi-P's "play another game" comment is always used to deflect criticism and at this rate it'll be what kills the game, everyone will leave to play other games and a critical mass will be reached that starts a downward spiral. Why even earn an Endwalker relic in this expansion when it'll be quicker to buy with poetics in 7.x? Likewise, why even bother gearing unless you play savage without a relic zone to play? Do the raids once for a story and dip. In fact, just wait until the x.55 patch and binge the entire MSQ/story content at once. I'll play other games alright, I'll even document and encourage the most cost effective way to do this so other people can easily copy. We'll soon see how many other games Yoshi-P and Square Enix want us to play when we're only subscribed for 2-3 months out of a 24+ month expansion cycle.

I agree with everything except 24+ implies it's minimum 24, actually it's minimum 30 now, it's really that bad, and it's probably 32 or 33 for 6.x.

[Johners]

I agree with everything except 24+ implies it's minimum 24, actually it's minimum 30 now, it's really that bad, and it's probably 32 or 33 for 6.x.

Seriosuly though, Endwalker is £30 on Steam which I assume is the same price for the standard edition on PlayStation, Windows standalone and macOS versions of the expansion. If you wait until Janaury, more than two years after the release of Endwalker and when 6.55 is due to release, you'll likely be able to buy the expansion for 50% off and buy three months of subscription at front for a reduced price. It'll be around £50 to get both of those which gives you more than enough time to play all the story content and get relatively decent last patch gear, maybe get a relic weapon and do some DoH/DoL before ignoring the game until 7.55 sometime in 2026.

What we really need are one or more of the big XIV content creators clearly explaining this casual playstyle on their social media channels. I'm sure Square Enix would very quickly change their tone on "playing other games" and how they approach end game content design if we openly encouraged a playstyle that destroys the underlying business model of the subscription MMO that carries Square Enix's financials every year.

It's ok to weaponise the monthly subscription fee against against Square Enix, Blizzard or any other MMO developer.